CHAPTER 30: DAWN OF A NEW DAY

Dreamscape

That night, Ryan found himself in the dreamscape once again, and he was now fully in the form of a glaceon. Unlike in previous times, when he had to wait a bit for Mew to show up, she was there right from the start, and she seemed to be waiting on him. Ryan opened his mouth to try to speak, but Mew put a paw up to silence him.

“Nope, you stay quiet for now. I have something I need to say to you… I’m… sorry for the hassle you ended up having to go through to make sure your uncle could get back to Earth. That decision I made… with your souls, and the pokemon bodies… that was one borne out of haste to save your lives without thinking of the possible consequences it would lead to, and now… Kori is a good person, and she lost everything… she gave up her humanity to help get your uncle home… and it’s all my fault. I was too afraid to directly intervene… and look where that got us. The worst part is that even if I weren’t paralyzed by fear… that Transmogrium stuff in the air… mutes out any attempts I could make to turn a pokemon into a human. Trust me, I’ve tried; I can’t even take on a human form myself anymore, so I certainly wouldn’t be able to give one to someone else.”

She sighed. “All of that to say… I’m sorry for everything.”

Ryan furrowed his brow, but not out of anger. “Oh, Mew… it’s not all bad. I mean, I reunited with my parents, and I’ve made some great friends, too. As for Kori… well, I can’t defend that, but it’s too late to do anything about it, so I think you shouldn’t worry.”

Mew tilted her head. “Are you sure?”

The glaceon nodded.

The pink kitten sighed. “Well, I… kind of want to make things a bit easier for Kori… easier for her to cope with the change.”

“Really? And how do you intend to do that?”

“Memory alteration. I’ll wipe her memories to make her think she was never a human in the first place.”

Ryan’s ears and tail shot up in alarm. “No, no, no! Don’t you dare do anything like that!” he shouted. “I will bring up what you did if you go through with it.” He took deep breaths to calm himself. “Sorry about that outburst, just… at least speak with Kori about it first and make sure she’s okay with it… and promise me you won’t go through with it if she isn’t.”

“Fine,” Mew grumbled.

“Though, I thought you could only suppress memories, not wipe them altogether. That plan of yours does make me a bit curious about how your memory changing powers actually work.”

“Oh, there are two types of amnesia that I can induce,” she explained. “They type I usually use is called the ‘memory block’, where the memories can be triggered by an external event. That’s the type of amnesia that can also be induced spontaneously by transformation, like Lena’s was, or by another means such as a physical injury.

“However, there is also the ‘memory wipe’ that can be used either selectively on specific memories or on all of them, and there is no chance of the person in question ever recalling those memories; in fact, it’s usually a good idea to replace those old memories with new ones. This type can only ever be brought on by me, and I only reserve it for when I’m dealing with someone who has traumatic memories that they need help moving past, or for a bad person as punishment for their misdeeds.” She giggled. “I really need to get better about not giving such long-winded explanations.”

Ryan nodded, both in understanding and in agreement. “Is that all you wanted to say?” he asked.

“Oh, one more thing,” Mew said. “I won’t be able to visit your dreams anymore. As for why, I’ve been visiting to help you out, but it seems that you don’t really need it anymore.” While clearing her throat, she also added, “Also because you revealed my existence to the space humans.”

“Ah,” the glaceon said. “I get it, but in my defense I did it in order to prove something. Even still, it was nice meeting you.”

“You, too. You are not a bad mon, you know. But anyways, I should go now. Have nice dreams, Ryan.”

And with that, Mew disappeared, leaving Ryan to his dreams yet again.

---

Team Seekers had ended up staying at Ryan’s parents’ home that night, a fact that Ryan had forgotten until he woke up the next morning on a couch instead of the bed he had at the guild. He also found that, at some point in the night, Riley had climbed up onto his back to cuddle up closely with him. How he hadn’t noticed this he had no idea, but he didn’t care because of how cute his little sister was.

He took a look around, finding Ben resting on the other end of the couch, with Lena nowhere to be found. She had chosen to sleep on the floor, but her lack of presence caused Ryan to wonder where she had gone off to. So, he just laid there for a little while, hoping she would come back from wherever, see this, and help him get up while also not waking Riley up accidentally. As cute as she was, he did want to properly get up at some point.

---

In the front area of the bakery, Kori sat on the windowsill watching as the rain fell outside and listening to the pitter-patter of the raindrops on the window, the few pokemon that were out at this hour donning raincoats. It was fairly dark inside, as Angela had yet to charge up the bakery’s electric lights for the day, with the only light coming from outside doing little to lighten the mood. Her regret of yesterday’s decision caused her to not eat much at dinner last evening, and she struggled to sleep as well, so she decided to wake up early.

Behind her, Lena came into the still-closed bakery from the living area in the back. Kori, who had just wanted to be alone for a while, sighed when she heard the sneasel’s footsteps.

“What do you want?” the shinx asked quietly.

“I… came into your room to check on you,” Lena answered, “because I know that you’re still down about yesterday. You know, we former humans have to stick together… I’d rather not forget my past again.”

“A part of me kind of wants to forget… it’d be easier to move on then…”

Lena gasped. “Don’t say that! If you forget, you would lose an important part of who you are! Seriously, why are you acting you lost someone?”

“…because… I did?” Kori teared up a little bit at the insensitive comment.

The cat-like weasel facepalmed. “Doh, right, I forgot; sorry about that,” she said sheepishly. “But look, losing a possible future career sucks; remember, I was in the IEF too, so I would know.”

“You were?” The shinx tilted her head before she remembered. “Oh, right, you’re my old boss’ daughter.” She grumbled internally about nepotism.

“I know you’re not keen on the idea of my dad promoting his own daughter to higher positions, but… that’s in the past now,” Lena added as if she knew what Kori was thinking. “Plus, he told me he wasn’t going to do that. And, to be honest… I would rather have worked my way up the ranks myself anyways. It’s part of the reason I didn’t return to the IEF, in fact. Well, that and the whole Transmogrium thing, but that’s besides the point.

“What I came to say is… sometimes, when one door closes, another opens elsewhere. I personally believe that you can be upset about the situation you’re in, and that’s okay, but you shouldn’t let it get in the way of other opportunities you could potentially take up.”

Kori wasn’t exactly sure what to make of this statement. “Erm… what do you mean?”

“What I mean is that you could join the explorer’s guild. Heck, my team currently has an open spot since Terry left; I’m sure Ryan would be more than happy to have you on the team.”

“Oh… oh yeah! I forgot about the guild! Yeah, I could do that, couldn’t I?” Kori’s face fell. “But… what if I don’t get approved to join?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that! All we need to do is to get the approval of the team leader to add a new member; we only really need to go through the guild to get you registered.”

“That sounds… like a very flawed system, honestly. I mean, how do they vet out anyone who’s hiding ill-intentions?”

Lena shrugged dismissively. “The guildmaster is literally a lucario. He has a way of seeing right through facades; it’s more fool-proof than you would think. His assistant can read minds, too so that definitely helps. They’ll know you’re alright.”

“Okay…” Kori said, glancing out the window. By now, the rain had stopped and the clouds were breaking up, allowing the warm sunlight to stream in through the window. She had to hop down onto the floor before she got too cozy. “Then let’s go get Ryan right now!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Kori. He might not even be awake yet… though, I could stand to go check on him and Ben… and I’m pretty sure Riley’s sleeping with him as well.” The sneasel and shinx pair headed back to the back and into the living area where they had been sleeping. Ryan perked up when he heard the door open, carefully lifting his head to look at them.

“Ah,” the glaceon whispered, “you two. Could you please help me out here?” He glanced at the eevee resting on his back. “I don’t want to wake her up.”

After Lena carefully picked up her partner’s little sister and lowered her onto the couch, Ryan was finally free to climb down onto the floor.

“Thanks,” he whispered. “Now, um… did you want something?”

Kori took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “Lena proposed something to me… she suggested… that I join your guys’ exploration team because-“

“Funny you should mention that,” Ryan interrupted, “because I was going to make the offer myself. Of course, you can join!”

Lena smirked. “That was even easier than I expected.”

“But why are you so willing to have me?” Kori asked. “You barely know who I am.”

The glaceon placed a forepaw on her shoulder. “Look, you helped my uncle become a human again, sacrificing everything in the process, so he could get back home, and you barely know him. In my opinion that speaks volumes about who you are as a person. Besides, it’s the least I can do to give you a leg up in this new situation you’re in.”

“Great,” Lena said, “now let’s-“

“Hold on, Lena, Ben’s not up yet. I want him to be there with us when we make this official.”

“Then let’s wake him up!” she said, shaking the sleeping torracat to silently wake him.

“I really think we should let him get up on his own, though. I mean, I wouldn’t want to-“

Ben let out a wide yawn, stretching out his limbs.

“Never mind.”

“Unh… I’m glad they’re giving us an extra day off after everything that happened over the last couple of days… I seriously needed the rest.” He looked over at his two teammates and the lavender-furred shinx near him. “Hey, um… what’s going on?”

“Oh, Kori wants to join the team, so we were going to head over to the guild to let them know so she can get her scarf and badge. Lena wanted to know if you wanted to come.”

Ben yawned again. “I think I need more sleep. I know it was a few days ago, but evolving kinda made me feel a bit out of sorts.”

“Ryan literally changed types when he evolved and felt fine afterward,” Lena countered. “Sounds like you’re just making excuses. You could have just said it sounds boring.”

“I mean, yeah, it does,” Ben said. “But I am still tired, anyways, so just-” he yawned again- “leave me be, please.”

Lena placed a claw behind her head. “Sorry about that. Alright then, if you don’t want to go with us, we won’t make you.”

After Lena, Ryan, and Kori left the room, Ben stretched again before curling up and going back to sleep for a bit longer.

---

“So, there’s no need for the entrance exam, then?” Ryan asked the guildmaster and his assistant during the meeting later that day.

Felix shook his head. “Nope, if you express approval of her joining then she’s good to go.”

“By the way,” Erin added, “I found this book from the human era about the IEF- interesting stuff, too; it definitely makes me want to look into ancient history more- and it seems like the physical qualifications to become a spacefarer are actually more rigorous than to become a guild explorer, so you’re probably already good to go anyways. The nurse agreed, apparently, as she also said you would make a good explorer when she did your physical.” She held out a paw to Kori, a kind smile on her face. “All this to say… welcome to the guild, Kori!”

After the shinx shook the she-meowstic’s paw, Ryan nodded. “Yeah, and welcome to Team Seekers! Though… we’re not really seeking much of anything anymore, are we?”

“That’s not true,” Lena replied. “We’re still seeking adventure, right? And seeking out pokemon to help?”

“Oh… hey, yeah, that is true! I guess we are still seeking things out, then!”

“Yeah… I suppose so,” Kori huffed. She still felt a bit down, but at least by doing this, she wouldn’t feel like she was wasting away. She knew she could still help others, which was the reason she had joined the IEF in the first place. She also knew that her new teammates had her back in this first day of her new life, and that she would do her best to reciprocate. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel like she was forgetting about something… or possibly, someone. Her eyes widened as she remembered what that was.

“Wait, where’s Mike?” she asked Felix.

“Oh, while those three were out in the badlands,” the lucario explained, gesturing towards the original members of Team Seekers, “another team found the metang in question aimlessly milling about the jungle behind the guild. Is that who you’re talking about?”

Kori nodded.

“Well, we brought your… friend?- back here and put them to work in the kitchen. Turns out, metangs are very good at measuring exact proportions of ingredients.”

The shinx hummed in thought. I wonder what Mike was even doing back there… I’m sure it’s nothing.

She shook off the thought because for now, she fastened her new badge to her new, purplish-blue scarf with a lightning bolt on it, lifting her head in pride and feeling ready for whatever came her way.

---

Seattle, Washington, Terry’s House

Terry emerged from his lab, where he slept last night in a foldout bed he had the foresight to install down there, through the elevator disguised as a shed in his backyard. He then entered, and shone a flashlight around, the dark house that was devoid of life, thankful that he had been able to buy it outright twenty-five years ago, but regretting not putting the utilities on autopay. What caught his attention was the amount of mail sitting beneath the flap in the front door. He picked it all up, took it to his office, and began to look through it.

For the most part, it turned out to be junk: random stuff that got mailed to everybody in King County. He groaned.

Of everything about Earth, junk mail is one thing I did not miss, he thought as he shoved the adverts and other junk into his shredder, which happened to be hooked to a battery.

There were a few things that caught his attention: a pink envelope, another labeled with the logo of his life insurance provider, and two copies of the Seattle Times, one from June 30th and the other from just a few days ago. He looked at the pink envelope first, tearing it open and pulling the paper out. It was a notice of dismissal from the company he worked at.

Can’t say I’m not surprised, he thought disappointedly. I haven’t shown up in weeks.

He looked at the newspapers next. The main thing he noticed was that on the earlier paper, him and Ryan were both presumed missing, while on the more recent one they’re both presumed dead. Other than that, there wasn’t much going on that he cared about.

So, this world considers me dead, then, he thought gloomily. I’m a dead man walking. I can’t show my face out there without raising suspicions.

Upon realizing that there wasn’t anything left for him here, he packed some suitcases with clothes and trudged back through the backyard, appreciative of the privacy fence on all sides. He descended the elevator to his laboratory again, as it had backup power as any self-respecting lab-owner would ensure, turned the portal back on, set it to connect to the Pernautica specifically, and stepped through.

Pernautica Mass-Transportative Space Station

Fortunately for Terry, Robert just so happened to be managing the portal room that day. Robert seemed happy to see him, but that happiness turned to confusion when he saw the suitcases.

“Terry, what’s with the suitcases? Visiting Ryan so soon?”

“Actually,” the man sighed, “I’m dead in the eyes of my world.”

Robert’s confusion turned to sorrow. “Oh… I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah… so, um… I’ve kind of hit a rough patch… could you take me to speak to Commander Harlingen?”